Andy Burnham says something I agree with!

Well, colour me turquoise. British politician Andy Burnham, minister for culture and other things the UK government does not respect, who wants noise in libraries and gyms and restaurants in churches, has now actually said something I agree with! I've always thought that the publicly-funded broadcaster the BBC shouldn't be wasting millions on 'star' presenters, who should really be on commercial television. At last the Jonathan Ross bubble has burst, and the BBC 'has been urged by ministers to end the culture of "fat cat" pay for top presenters or risk cuts to its £3.4 billion a year of public funding. Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, has issued a warning that the seven-figure contracts given to stars such as Jonathan Ross are undermining licence fee payers' confidence in the broadcaster.' This from the Independent. Now, I hope the Irish are paying attention and have a slip of paper with question marks over the top RTE earners who are actually paid as contract companies, not as individuals:

€849,139 Pat Kenny Media Services (Kat Penny)
€558,990 Balcom Management (Gerry Ryan)
€455,190 Montrose Services (Marian Finucane)
€367,804 Claddaghgreen (Joe Duffy)
€346,667 Trocity Productions ('Gerry' Ryan Tubridy)

The highest pay to an actual RTE employee is €242,408 !

'Tough times ahead for RTE but not for its stars', Irish Independent, 10 August 2008.

Update: 'BBC to trim massive pay deals for big stars', Irish Independent, 3 November 2008.